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Hindu Extremism Being Ignored

Hindu Extremism Being Ignored

Monday January 19, 2004

The American media often has a lot to say about Islamic militants and Muslims who commit violence in the Middle East, and it is true that they pose a threat to others (as well as to other Muslims). However, that same media typically ignores similar extremism and similar violence committed by Hindu nationalists in India. Pakistan's Daily Times reports:

Paul Marshall, a senior fellow at Freedom House’s Centre for Religious Freedom who recently published a book on the rise of Hindu extremism in India, writes that a country once personified by Mahatma Gandhi is fast becoming known for religious hatred and violence. While India remains the world’s largest democracy, the ruling BJP is linked to Hindu extremist groups like the RSS, the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which mount hate campaigns and sometimes-violent attacks against religious minorities and demand that Hinduism dominate society and politics. The RSS was founded by admirers of fascism and Nazism, produced Gandhi’s murderers and is now perhaps the world’s largest paramilitary organisation, with millions of members, he adds.

India's political traditions are founded upon liberalism, democracy, and tolerance - but the growth of extremism in that nation threatens those foundations, and threatens to ignite not only internal violence, but also conflict with other nations like Pakistan. There are justifiable concerns about the possibility of Muslim extremists taking over in Pakistan, a country with nuclear weapons, but we should have similar concerns about India as well - a country which is much larger, more powerful, and which possess more nuclear weapons than Pakistan.

Hindu Extremism on the Rise in India

Conservative News Service, Feb 14, 2000

NEW DELHI, India (CNS) -- Hindu fundamentalist groups in India are trying to curb the activities of other religious groups and control the "expressions" of those not conforming to their world view, according to analysts here. As examples, analysts point to Hindu attempts to change the Indian constitution in ways that would curb artistic free expression and restrict the right of minority Christians and Muslims to preach and practice their religion freely.

"Increasing intolerance among the Hindu fundamentalist organizations, which pose a grave threat to democracy, are an indication of the rise of fascist forces in India," said politics professor M. Mohanty of Delhi University.

"What happened with European fascism is now happening with the Hindus," he told CNSNews.com.

Kanti Bajpai, professor of international politics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, agreed, telling CNSNews.com that "the rise of right-wing politics in India is far more advanced and violent than in Austria."

More than 80 percent of India's nearly one billion people are Hindus. Muslims form a sizeable minority of around 15 percent, while just 2.5 percent are Christians.

Although Hindu fundamentalist leaders have formally denied responsibility for attacks on minority religious communities, their propaganda is characterized by threats of violence.

In Orissa, where Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were murdered 13 months ago, the local government passed an order last November prohibiting religious conversions without the prior permission of the local police and a district magistrate.

The order, an amendment to the 1967 Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, stipulates that a citizen wishing to convert must undergo a police inquiry to explain his or her reasons.

India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, has passed a bill restricting the building and use of places of worship. It is awaiting the approval of the Indian president.

The western state of Gujarat recently lifted a ban on government employees being members of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (national self-service organization, or RSS).

The RSS, which claims to be a socio-cultural organization, is the main think tank of several fundamentalist bodies in India, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The RSS functions as the principal guardian of Hindu ideology.

An RSS member assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. It has been banned three times since independence for its activities.

Also in Gujarat, lawmakers soon will debate a draft Freedom of Religion Bill, which makes it a criminal offense to use force or fraud in converting a person from one religion to another.

Hindu fundamentalists forced an Indo-Canadian movie director, Deepa Mehta, from filming a movie that reportedly depicted an upper caste Hindu widow falling in love with a lower caste laborer as well as widows being forced into prostitution by those in the upper castes.

Taking exception to the storyline of "Water," activists said it "tarnished the image of the country and Hindus."

Actress Nandita Das, who stars in "Water," said the fanatics were misleading people and causing trouble for the whole society "in a country known for its unity in diversity."

Political scientist Mohanty warned that the greatest danger to India's "extremely strained social fabric" may come not from Sikh or Muslim separatists, but from Hindu fundamentalists.

The vice-president of the ruling BJP, J.P. Mathur, said Hindus were known for their tolerance, but that "Muslim fundamentalism has now forced us to raise our head and counter it. It is all because of the survival of the fittest."

India has a long history of violence between the Hindu majority and Muslims. Recently, Christians also have been targeted.

The New Delhi-based United Christian Forum for Human Rights has documented more than 120 attacks against Christian individuals, churches, and schools, allegedly by Hindu fundamentalists, in the past year. Half of the incidents have occurred in Gujarat.

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Delhi, Alan de Lastic, said extremists were employing a national-level strategy to try to stem the influence of Christians.

"It is more pronounced in states where there is a government affiliated to the Hindu ideology and a small Christian population," he said.

A resurgence of Hindu fundamentalism has taken place over the past decade, beginning with an RSS television campaign in the late 1980s to forge a self-conscious collective Hindu identity.

In 1991, present Home Minister L. K. Advani undertook a historic "chariot journey" from a Hindu temple in Gujarat to the legendary birthplace of the Hindu god Ram.

The symbolic journey helped transform the BJP from marginal group with just two seats in parliament a decade ago to the ruling party today.

In 1992, Muslims became the main targets of Hindus with the destruction of a mosque built in the 16th century on a site some Hindus believe a Hindu temple once stood.

International politics professor Bajpai compared the strategy used by the RSS to that of Joerg Haider and the Freedom Party in Austria.

"The right here too advocates extreme and flagrant positions and then retreats and recants as a way of disarming critics and opponents - and succeeds only too well."

The fundamentalists had also used the fear of "outsiders within" to build a support base.

"Immigration has been one way of doing this, but more important here has been the portrayal of religious and ethnic minorities as aliens whose loyalty to the nation is questionable," Bajpai explained.

"Measures need to be taken to curb this trend, otherwise it will destroy the multi-cultural fabric of India," warned Mohanty.

CAIRO — The arrest of India's first Hindu terrorist cell over a series of bombing attacks initially blamed on Muslims is angering the Hindu majority in the Asian giant.

"You cannot call it Hindu terrorism," Ram Madhav, a spokesman for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the umbrella group for India's Hindu activists, told the Washington Post on Monday, November 24.
Ten Hindu extremists, including a self-styled female saint and an army officer, have been arrested over a series of deadly bombings that were initially blamed on militant Muslims.

Police are linking them to blasts that rocked the Muslim-dominated town of Malegaon in the western state of Maharashtra in September, claiming the lives of six people.

The group is also suspected of having links to previous attacks, including last year's notorious bombing of a cross-border train en route to Pakistan, which killed 68 people.

Most of the arrestees have been associated with a radical Hindu group called Abhinav Bharat, or "New India".

Himani Savarkar, the group's president, claimed the case was fabricated to appease Muslims ahead of the state elections.

"It is a great balancing act by the Congress government. To appease the Muslims, they are now arresting Hindus for terrorism," he argued, insisting the arrested group had been working to "rouse Hindus out of their slumber"."But even if they have done anything, I would say it is a reaction, not an action," said Savarkar, who set up a legal aid fund to help the arrestees.Misar, the public prosecutor, refuted claims that the case was politically-motivated.

"We have evidence against all the accused for their respective roles in instigation, abetment, providing explosives and funding," he said citing mobile phone call records, bank statements, diaries and laptop data.
"All the evidence will be scrutinized by court, not by political pressure or public opinion."

India's military, which prides itself on its professionalism, has been forced to order an embarrassing inquiry.

Defiant

Savarkar, the president of the Abhinav Bharat, stressed Hindus would not stand hand-folded.

"We cannot keep showing the other cheek. The Hindus are fed up," he said.

Whenever the accused appear before the judge, hundreds of Hindu activists would storm the courthouse chanting "We are with you" waving orange flags and showering marigold petals on the vehicles carrying the prisoners.

Hundreds of orange-robed self-styled Hindu saints are also planning to march in the coming days to New Delhi to launch a "Hindu mobilization drive."

The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is running campaign ads on TV accusing the government of smearing the names of soldiers who sacrifice their lives for the nation.

The political wrangling over the Hindu extremists' arrest reopened the old wounds of many Muslims.

"We have always known that Hindu extremists were behind the blast, but we never thought the government would have the courage to arrest Hindus," said Ejaz Ahmad, a 32-year-old shop owner.

Coordinated attacks across Mumbai, India’s financial capital, which have killed up to a hundred people and injured hundreds more, are likely to be blamed on a terrorist organization linked to the Pakistani ISI, providing further justification for controversial U.S. bombings inside Pakistani territory and heightened rhetoric against Pakistan on behalf of President elect Barack Obama.

Terrorists armed with AK-47’s and grenades conduced a series of rampages on hotels, restaurants and public transport facilities today, killing around 80 and injuring over 250 people. Initial reports that terrorists had seized western hostages were later dismissed by Indian government officials.

With the corporate media desperate to pin the blame in order to score much needed propaganda points for the ailing war on terror, suspicion is likely to fall on Pakistan, a country that President elect Barack Obama openly threatened during his presidential campaign.

The bombings in Mumbai will also likely silence questions about controversial U.S. bombing raids inside Pakistani territory aimed at terrorists, strikes that have repeatedly killed innocent civilians.

It is commonly asserted that the Pakistani ISI helps fund and train terrorists.

“They had purchased around two crates of chicken and liquor worth Rs25,000 from two shops in Colaba,” another resident Joseph D’Mello said. “They then entered the Nariman House building and took the Israeli family captive.”

Does anyone know if any names of the terrorists have been revealed ? If not, it makes you wonder why, as quite a few days have already passed.

A pirate was captured & brought before Alexander the Great. Alexander asked the pirate: 'How dare you molest the people?' The pirate replied:'And how dare you molest the entire world? I am called a thief because I do it with a little ship only. You do it with a great navy & you are called an Emperor!'Under this scenario, powerless people doing trivial acts are the major terrorists of the world whilst major powers perpetrating terrorism in many parts of the world are the civilised barbarians.

It's important to start from the start of all the bombings India if one is to understand what is going on there now. So here it is from the start, dating back to a few months.

Hindu Extremism: Brahamin terrorists arrested

Pune, October 25, 2008

On Friday, a day after three suspected right-wing Hindu activists were arrested in connection with the September 29 blast in Malegaon that claimed six lives, the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) detained two former Army officers in Pune in the same case.The Pune police were tightlipped. Pune Police Commissioner Satyapal Sinh and Additional Commissioner of Police Rajendra Sonavane both said they were not aware of any ATS action.

However, top Pune police sources, not authorised to speak to media, confirmed the detentions. Sources said one of the officers was Major (Retd) Prabhakar Kulkarni. He had served the Territorial Army, the military's civilian wing, for nearly 12 years before heading the Bhonsala Military School and College, Nashik, run by the Central Hindu Military Education Society.Sources identified the other officer only as 'Upadhye', working with the military intelligence.

Sources in the Southern Command Headquarters of the Indian Army at Pune said they received a directive from Delhi to probe the association of serving or retired personnel in the Malegaon blast.

Sources said the officers' names were revealed during the questioning of arrested Hindu activists Sadhvi Pradnyasingh Thakur, Shivnarayansing Kalsangram and Shyam Sahu, all from Madhya Pradesh.

Sources said Kulkarni and Upadhye were suspected to be running a private military school. The ATS suspects they may have supplied explosives to the Malegaon bombers. Forensic tests showed that RDX was used in the attack.

Asked if there was any lack of coordination between Pune police and ATS, Sinh said the ATS' jurisdiction covered all of Maharashtra and they could take independent action anywhere.

These are the second set of terror-related arrests in Pune. On October 6, the ATS arrested 20 suspects from across Maharashtra, eight of them from Pune. All were suspected to be Indian Mujahideen activists, most highly educated. They had set up a control room in Pune's Kondhwa area.

The photograph shows the Sadhvi Poornachetanand once known as Pragya Singh Thakur - with BJP leader and party president Rajnath Singh and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

New Delhi: In an embarrassing development for the Bhartiya Janata Party, pictures of a Sadhvi (Right Wing Hindu woman) – arrested for her role in the Malegaon blasts – are doing the rounds in Bhopal and Indore.

The photograph was taken at the condolence meeting of state education minister Laxman Gaur in February 2006, the year that she took sanyas (retreating to ascetic way of life).

Before becoming a Sadhvi, Pragya was an office bearer of the BJP's student wing and a member of Durga Vahini, women's wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. She is believed to be an acquaintance of Indore Mayor Uma Shashi Sharma and another firebrand sanyasi, BJP rebel Uma Bharti

Pragya's spiritual guru is senior VHP leader Swami Avdheshanangiri.

On Thursday, five people affiliated to the Hindu Jagran Manch – including the Sadhvi - were arrested in Indore and Surat by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad for their alleged involvement in the Malegaon and Modasa bomb blasts

Her links to the motorcycles used in the Malegaon bomb blasts is being probed. The registration and the chassis numbers of the bike were removed with chemicals. However, investigators have succeeded in retrieving these. Preliminary investigations have revealed that all five suspects played a peripheral role in the blasts of September 29.

Sadhvi's father Chandrapal Singh says he is confident that his daughter is not involved in the blast. He also says he won't object if his daughter is punished on being proved guilty. "If she has comitted the crime, then I will not be sad if she is punished," he said

NEW DELHI: The emergence of a "Hindu" angle to the Modasa and Malegaon blasts has put BJP in a spot given its sustained campaign against jihadi terrorism even though its leadership feels that none of those detained has an active link with any Sangh Parivar organisation.

With reports of Indore-based Hindu Jagran Manch being connected with post-September 13 Delhi serial blasts appearing, BJP leadership did a quick check on the backgrounds and affiliations of those suspected to have had a hand in the attacks which took place in Muslim areas.

The development was discussed by BJP leaders, including L K Advani and Rajnath Singh and some others, at Parliament House on Friday where it was felt that the particular sadhvi — Pragya and two associates — were not connected with the Sangh. But the sadhvi's previous links with ABVP in the late 90's were definitely cause for discomfort.

The BJP leaders were left with little choice but to take the position that all acts of violence had to be condemned and if the role of the Manch was established, it would have to face the consequences. But there was clearly a sense of unease over theemergence of "Hindu terror" that gave BJP-baiters in Parliament a clear opportunity to have a go at the saffron party.

BHOPAL: When the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) picked up a sanyasin from a village near Surat in connection with the September blasts in Malegaon and

Modasa, there were curious faces all around. The arrested sadhvi turned out to be Pragya Singh Thakur, a former resident of Gwalior andactive ABVP leadertill 1997.

Pragya, now 38, was a member of the state ABVP executive council and worked with the organization in Ujjain and Indore. According to her father CP Singh Thakur, an ayurvedic doctor in Surat, she was a much-feared student leader in her college days in Madhya Pradesh. She would ride motorcycles and severely beat up roadside Romeos harassing girls. In 2001, the Singhs shifted to Surat. Pragya left ABVP after becoming a disciple of religious guru Avdeshanand Giri. She took sanyas during the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad in 2006.

"We have no connection with her since she left the organisation. All we know is that Pragya resides in an ashram in Gujarat," says ABVP national general secretary Vishnu Dutt Sharma. Pragya was a fiery orator, says Sharma. But he finds it hard to believe that she could be connected to the blasts. "The Pragya we knew could not have gone that far," he said.

According to the police, Pragya had established an organisation called Jai Vande Mataram Jan Kalyan Samiti in 2002. She had taken the name Purnachetanand Giri after taking sanyas. The bike used in Malegaon was in Pragya Singh's name and efforts had been made to hide its ownership, police sources said. For instance, its registration number was bogus. But after a detailed investigation, the police found out about the ownership.

Pragya is also known to Bharatiya Janshakti Party supremo Uma Bharati. On Saturday, Bharati said, "She has been attached to both ABVP and Avdeshanand Giri. I do not believe any person who is attached to both ABVP and a religious guru like Avdeshanand Giri could be involved in blasts.

MUMBAI/NASHIK: The Hindu face of terrorism has emerged with the arrest of three persons, including a woman, suspected to be behind the September 29bomb blast in Malegaon which killed six and injured 89 others. ( Watch )

TOI had reported their detention in its Friday edition. Maharashtra' s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Friday produced them before a Nashik court which remanded them to police custody till November 3. The three have been charged with murder, attempt to murder, unlawful assembly under the IPC and Section 16 (punishment for terror acts) and Section 18 (punishment for terror conspiracy) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, and several sections of the Explosives Act.

The woman has been identified as Pragya Singh Thakur (38), a `sadhvi' (woman monk). According to ATS chief Hemant Karkare, the motorcycle in which the bomb was planted was traced to her.

The other two arrested, Shamlal Bhavar Sahu (42) and Shivnarayan Singh (36), have been accused of plotting as well as planting the bomb at Bhikku Chowk in central Malegaon, just outside the sealed office of the banned outfit, the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Two more suspects — Dilip Nehar and Dharmendra Bajrangi — have also been detained by the ATS.

Those arrested are reported to have given the names of their collaborators. An ATS team will soon go to MP to make more arrests.

``They (the suspects) were driven by their desire to retaliate against `jihadi' terrorism and to avenge the killings of Hindus,'' said a source in intelligence. Security agencies are alarmed by the clear evidence of the beginning of radicalisation of the majority community. This, they say, is the first instance of reverse terrorism resulting in killing.

According to sources, Thakur, a resident of Gwalior, was a popular leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP, till 1997. The ABVP, though, has denied the allegation. She quit the ABVP and took `sanyas' in January 2007 after becoming a disciple of religious guru Avdeshanand Giri. Thakur, who was in the state executive council of the ABVP, was known for her fiery speeches.

``In 2002, she had formed the Jai Vande Mataram Jan Kalyan Samiti. We have seized some pamphlets and are conducting investigations. She had also launched the Rashtriya Jagran Manch in Indore,'' Karkare said.

Shivnaryan is an electrical contractor in Indore while Sahu runs a cell-phone repairing shop in Tukogunj in Madhya Pradesh. He is also a small-time property broker. Shivnarayan attends RSS `shakhas' and has a shop in the Bengali Chauraha area.

According to the ATS, Thakur, Singh and Sahu are members of right-wing Hindu radical organisations. Karkare said that the motor bike used in Malegaon bomb blast belonged to Thakur who is now a sadhvi and regularly visited Surat to deliver ``religious lectures''. Thakur and Sahu had spoken to each other for 400 minutes on the cellphone over several days after the Malegaon blast, an ATS officer said.

Shivnarayan and Sahu have been termed by the police as ``mechanical and electronics experts''. They are suspected to have assembled the bombs. ``We want to know who taught them bomb making and whether there is any training camp for such destructive activities,' ' said an officer.

Mumbai: A sadhvi (female saint) in her late 20's may not match the profile of a bomber. But the Maharashtra Police now claim to have cracked Malegaon blast case after arresting the sadhvi

Sadhvi Purna Chetanand alias Pragya Singh Thakur, Shyam Bhavar Lal, and Shivnarayan Singh are the new faces of terror. The three have been arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad for their alleged involvement in the Malegaon blasts last month that left five people dead and several injured.

"Pragya had set up an organisation named Jai Vande Matram Jankalyan Samiti," Joint Commissioner of Police (ATS) Hemant Karkare said.

The police say Sadhvi Chetanand is a former office bearer of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), and a member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's Durga Vahini, while Lal and Singh were affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

All three are allegedly linked to the Hindu Jagran Manch, an extremist group.Police say they traced the engine and chassis of the motorbike used in the blast to Sadhvi Chetanand.

Originally from Bhind in Madhya Pradesh, the Sadhvi shifted with her father to Surat six years ago.Her father, an Ayurvedic doctor, says his daughter, has been affiliated with the ABVP since her school days, but insists she is innocent."We oppose injustice and never do justice to anyone. Pragya is my brightest daughter," Dr Chandrapal Singh Thakur, father of Pragya, said.

Lal and Singh were educated in mechanical and electrical engineering streams. Sources say a man named Ramnarayan Singh, the brother of Singh, is the master mind of the blasts.The Hindu Jagran Manch has, however, denied being involved in the blasts."The Hindu Jagran Manch has never been involved in any blasts and anti-national activities. This is all a conspiracy," Radhe Shyam Yadav, State coordinator, Hindu Jagran Manch, said.

But the big question is will there be a political backing for these agencies who are currently unravelling the fearful and upcoming face of saffron terror in India.

Today the hindu extremists are powerful because they went unchecked 8 years ago when they were reported to be on the rise.

Hinduism turns to 'fascism', promote and trains to 'lies' and 'murders'!

Suspects were trained to lie

Wed,26 Nov 2008

"Injure yourself if you have to"; "complain of torture"; "make personal, embarrassing allegations against the police in court."These are some instructions members of the radical Hindu group Abhinav Bharat – under investigation for its involvement in the Malegaon blast – were given at a training camp conducted by Lt Col Prasad Purohit at Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh, earlier this year.

The September 29 blast in a crowded marketplace in Maharashtra's powerloom town claimed six lives.

Investigators found details of these training sessions in Purohit's laptop, which was recovered after his arrest on November 5. Hindustan Times had access to the armyman's detailed lecture notes. Officials said at least 30 senior Abhinav Bharat members attended these sessions, referred to in the laptop as personality development workshops.

The allegations made by Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and the other co-accused at the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Monday are very similar to the instructions in Purohit's sessions.

"With his military intelligence background and knowledge of interrogation procedures, this strategy to derail investigation in the event of being arrested was designed by Purohit," said a police officer involved in the probe.

Maharashtra Director General of Police A.N. Roy said these are delay tactics. "It is becoming common to level allegations against investigators, to slow down the probe and to make investigators wary," he said.

The court on Monday denied the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) custody of seven of the 11 accused, a major setback and embarrassment for the police. The sadhvi was the first to file an affidavit that the ATS had tortured her.

New Delhi: The residents of Jamia Nagar today foiled a kidnapping/encounter attempt by some policemen in plain clothes in Shaheen Bagh area under the Jamia Nagar Police Station in Delhi.

It was around 8 in the night when a black Hyundai car with tinted glasses but with no number plates entered Shaheen Bagh. Five persons, maybe ATS sleuths in plainclothes, came out and tried to drag a youth named Amir into the car. He resisted and asked them why they were dragging him. They said they will tell him soon.

As the Jamia Nagar encounter and subsequent indiscriminate picking of locals were fresh in people’s mind, locals began gathering. The plainclothes people threatened them but as mob got thicker, some of them slipped away. The locals, however, were able to catch one who later turned out to be an ASI of Noida Police. The public brought both the policeman and Amir to Jamia Nagar police station.

Hundreds of people gathered around the police station and demanded action against the 'kidnapppers'. They alleged that their plan was to encounter the person and later declare him a terrorist.

People say Amir was with his friend Irfan on a motorcycle. Amir from Zafarabad area in Delhi had come here to meet someone. They alleged that his friend Irfan was police informer because those came in car tried to drag into the car only Amir, not Irfan. Irfan also fled the scene.

The car had no number plate but a number plate was found in the car which had DL1T W 1590 written on it. The plate looked new and unused. The mob also was able to snatch some documents from the Noida policemen. They include PANCARDS, mobile, SIM. Among other things in the car two ID with different picture but same name belonging to an IT company was found in the car. The angry residents damaged the car and broke window panes. The local police reached the spot and asked the residents to hand over Amir and the policemen but the people demanded that they will do it before higher authorities.

Soon ACP (Sarita Vihar) Gurcharan Das reached there and persuaded the locals to handover the men. After much effort the police could bring them and the car to the Jamia Nagar Police Station. But hundreds of locals followed the police and reached the station.

People remained outside the station until 1 am when the police announced that the FIR from Amir has been registered. This all proceeding was done in the presence of Aziz Burney, Editor of Sahara Urdu daily, Md Rahman, Delhi High Court advocate and some local leaders.

Talking to mediapersons around 1 am, DCP Ajay Choudhry said those who came in the car were Noida Police personnel. The Delhi Police will investigate the matter. He said he had contacted Noida SSP and he assured he is looking into the case and action will be taken against the guilty officials.

Although the so-called mainstream Indian media carefully ignores this, enough evidence exists to suggest that at least some of the killer bomb blasts that have rocked various parts of India in recent years might not at all have been the handiwork of Islamist outfits or of Muslims seeking revenge for anti-Muslim violence, although they are inevitably blamed by intelligence agencies and the media for all such attacks. Because, despite their secular pretensions, influential sections of India's Hindu-owned, so-called mainstream media are deeply anti-Muslim, they maintain a stony silence on the possibility of Hindutva terrorist outfits being behind several such blasts, as has been alleged by many Muslim as well as secular human rights' organisations.

This is not to say that I do not agree that some fringe Muslim groups might be involved in some of these blasts. This might well be the case. In addition, the possibility of some hapless Muslim victims of Hindu terrorism, as in Gujarat, or of state terrorism taking to violence in revenge cannot be discounted. My point, however, is that at least some of this violence does not at all appear like the handiwork of Muslims to me, contrary to what the so-called mainstream Indian media would like us to believe.

The Hindu Right has, ever since its inception, consistently used terror as its major weapon for stirring up Hindu passions so as to cultivate a Hindu vote-bank. This has been particularly the case on the eve of major elections, as is the case today. Because the economic and political agenda of the Hindu Right is clearly antithetical to the interests of the vast majority of Indians, particularly the Dalits, Adivasis and Backward Castes, it has no other means of wooing these sections of society than by stoking anti-Muslim hatred. It would not be an exaggeration to say that anti-Muslim (and now, increasingly, anti-Christian) hatred is the major political plank of the Hindu Right. This has been the case from the very onset of the Hindutva political project. Thus, immediately after 1947, the Jan Sangh, the progenitor of the present-day BJP, took up with fiery passion such causes as Cow Protection and the abolition of the semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir in order to stir Hindu passions against Muslims and garner Hindu votes. The BJP followed in the same path, with its agitation against the Shah Bano judgment and its bloody campaign for the destruction of the Babri Masjid. Today, the issue of 'Muslim terrorism' is being deployed as the latest weapon in the Hindu Right's armoury to fan anti-Muslim hatred and consolidate its Hindu vote bank. Several cases of Hindutva activists being engaged in manufacturing bombs have come to light, and these might just be the tip of the iceberg.

It is thus quite possible that some Hindu extremist outfits might well be behind at least some of the blasts that India has witnessed in recent years, seeking, with the willing compliance of intelligence agencies and influential sections of the media, to portray these as the handiwork of 'radical Islamists'. After all, this entirely fits in with the agenda of the Hindu Right, for it provides it further ammunition in its anti-Muslim tirade. Following these blasts, anti-Muslim sentiments, even suspicion and hatred, have mounted, and this suits the Hindutva brigade admirably. The fact that such bomb blasts inevitably hurt Muslims by further intensifying anti-Muslim hatred might suggest that several of these blasts might not be the handiwork of Muslims after all, contrary to what the intelligence agencies and the media tell us. This suspicion is further reinforced by credible reports of numerous fake encounters, involving the intelligence agencies, the police and the supine and increasingly anti-Muslim media, in which perfectly innocent Muslim youths are picked up, branded as deadly 'terrorists' and incarcerated for years or even shot dead in cold blood.

In this regard, one must ask that if indeed all these blasts have been orchestrated by Muslim groups, that are said to have access to sophisticated technologies of destruction, why is it that most of them have been directed against 'soft' civilian targets (particularly in poor and lower-middle class areas) and not against more strategically 'important' installations, people, places or institutions? Then, again, the question arises and begs to be answered as to why, as the media alleges, a group such as the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) could indeed be behind all of these blasts if it is still seeking to get the ban that has been placed on it lifted, and has been consistently challenging successive orders of court tribunals that have recommended that the ban remain in place. Surely, plotting deadly blasts would in no way serve their effort to have the ban on them lifted.

Curiously, when the intrepid Tehelka reporter Ajit Sahi recently discovered that in not a single case involving ex-SIMI members could it be proved that they were involved in promoting terrorism, the mass media and the intelligence agencies suddenly shifted their attention to another group they claimed to have discovered, the Indian Mujahideen (IM), blaming it for numerous blasts. The fact remains, however, that there is no confirmed evidence to prove that any such outfit does exist, and going by the number of reportedly innocent people who have been said to be arbitrarily branded, arrested and even killed as alleged IM leaders and 'masterminds' it might be, as some have claimed, that the IM is a figment of the fertile and devious imagination of some media persons or intelligence agencies.

Several of the blasts that have occurred in recent years have occurred at largely Muslim locations. Why Muslim terror groups would attack Muslim places of worship or largely Muslim inhabitations, as the media and intelligence agencies have alleged in the case of blasts at the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, the Ajmer Dargah, Delhi's Jamia Masjid, and in predominantly Muslim settlements in Malegaon and Modasa, Gujarat, needs to be answered. It is very likely that those behind these particular attacks were not Muslims at all. They might well have been some Hindutva outfits, although this the media, the police and the intelligence agencies have been loath to admit.

The noted historian Amaresh Mishra recently penned a piece which was widely circulated on the Internet suggesting that the hand of American intelligence agencies in some of these blasts cannot be ruled out. Some others have pointed to the possibility of the Israeli Mossad, working in tandem with some elements of the Indian intelligence, being behind them. This angle needs to be probed further. These forces seem to share a common vision, shaped by a shared anti-Muslim agenda. Engineering bomb blasts which the media willingly blames on Muslims and staging fake encounters of 'terrorists' involving Muslim youth might thus be a means for them to pursue this common purpose, and for further cementing the India-US-Israel axis

The impact of the blasts and the developments that have followed on the Muslims of the country has been nothing short of devastating. Hundreds of Muslims have been rounded up, shoved into prisons, brutally tortured and even made to sign false forced 'confessions' of guilt. Numerous Muslim youths have been wrongly branded as 'terrorists' and shot dead. Across large parts of the country, Muslims live in constant fear, not knowing when they could be picked up by the police on any flimsy and cooked-up excuse.

Muslim organisations have been forced to divert their energies and resources to defending themselves from false accusations of promoting terrorism, and this is having a severely deleterious impact on their work of internal reform and development of the community. In the increasingly hostile anti-Muslim climate that is being deliberately created, the possibility of the state acting on its Constitutional obligations towards its Muslim citizens in terms of allocating them adequate resources for their development, as suggested by the authors of the government-appointed Sachar Commission Report, is becoming increasingly remote, and any such demand on the part of Muslims is bound to encounter even more stiff Hindu opposition than before. The fake branding of even well-qualified Muslims employed in top private sector jobs as 'terrorists' is bound to make it even more difficult for educated Muslims to gain jobs in this sector, in which, as it is, Muslims enjoy a very insignificant presence.

Just as most Muslims know that terrorism engaged in by fringe Islamist groups, by Muslim victims seeking revenge for Hindutva or state terrorism or by non-Muslim forces who seek to attribute this violence to Muslims, is deeply harming their community, Hindus, too, must realise that state terrorism and Hindutva-inspired terrorism directed against Muslims must ultimately backfire on Hindus as well in the long-run. For, hounding innocent Muslims in the name of countering terrorism, engaging in violence that is sought to be passed off as the handiwork of Muslims, fanning anti-Muslim hatred and violence and demonising the entire Muslim community, as the Hindu Right is engaged in, might force Muslims to the wall and threaten to engulf the entire country in the throes of interminable civil war. While radical Islamists and Hindutva terrorists might relish this horrifying prospect, this would spell doom for the vast majority of Indian Muslims and Hindus, who wish nothing more than to be left to lead their lives in peace.

NEW DELHI: More arrests are expected in the coming weeks as the frightening dimensions of a radical Hindu terror plot start to unravel, with investigators indicating that it had the makings of a larger conspiracy and planning of reprisal killings of Muslims for serial bombings in a number of Indian cities.

Ten people, including a self-proclaimed Hindu seer and a serving lieutenant colonel, have so far been arrested for the Sep 29 bombing in a Muslim-dominated neighbourhood in the small Maharashtra town of Malegaon that killed five people. Investigators are now examining if a Hindu terror conspiracy was involved in several other blasts - like the one of the Samjhauta Express train in 2007 - that have till date remained unsolved.

The Anti-Terrorism Squad's (ATS) arrest of Mahant Amritanand Dev alias Dayanand Pandey, the self-styled pontiff from Kanpur, which investigators say is a "prize catch", has already revealed that it was under his instructions that Lt. Colonel Shrikant Purohit procured RDX from an army depot that was used in the Malegaon blast.

"Pandey was present in all the pre-blast meetings in Bhopal, Jabalpur and Faridabad, monitored operations meticulously and was also responsible for arranging the finances that came in through illegal channels," an ATS source told IANS.

Investigators are now questioning the suspects on the May 2007 blast at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, the attack on the Samjhauta Express train between India and Pakistan in February 2007 and the April 2006 twin blasts at New Delhi's Jama Masjid.

"Not much headway has been made into the investigations in these attacks. We need to examine if a similar radical Hindu fringe could have been behind these bombings and that is under the scanner now," said a senior intelligence official, who could not be named because of the sensitivity of his position.

“We could see more arrests in the coming days but that will depend on whether we can get sufficient evidence.”

It is believed that Pandey, a dropout from the National Defence Academy, was in touch with two other accused who are on the run - Ramji Kalsangara, who allegedly planted the motorcycle owned by the Hindu ascetic Pragya Singh Thakur in Malegaon, and Sameer Dange.

In the Mecca Masjid blasts as many as 14 people were killed and over 50 injured. The case was investigated by the city police special wing and was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation which could not come to any conclusion. There were some remote indications of Bangladesh-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami's involvement.

Investigations into the Samjhauta Express explosion, in which at least 68 people were killed, and the Jama Masjid blast also failed to make headway and police could not across on any tangible leads.Police have already established a strong link between Pandey and some of the suspects in the Kanpur blast case through surveillance - on Aug 24, two members of the right-wing Bajrang Dal were killed there while assembling bombs.

“With his (Pandey) arrest we will now get to the bottom of this case and see if there are linkages as well in the 2006 Nanded blasts in Maharashtra,” said a senior police official.Unearthing this terror network has indicated a major course correction for police, who had blamed Islamic terrorists for a wave of bombings that have killed more than 145 people targeting cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Jaipur this year.

The arrests have reinforced growing suspicions over the last few years of a potential threat from Hindu extremists.

Police also suspect the group could be behind the Ajmer dargah blast in February 2007.

The man who planted Ajmer bomb was killed by the group. They may also be behind Samjhauta Express blast, sources say. Leaders of mainstream Hindutva groups were aware of their activities, they add.

The development comes even as Lt Colonel Prasad Purohit, the first serving Indian Army officer to be held in a terror-related case, has reportedly confessed to his role in the Malegaon blast during his narco-analysis test in Bangalore.